In a new interview with Letty Sharp of The Smashing Skull Sessions, former IRON MAIDEN and current WOLFSBANE frontman Blaze Bayley was asked to name his favorite METALLICA album. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “That’s such a difficult question. I really wish you hadn’t asked that. It’s gotta be ‘Ride The Lightning’ and ‘Master Of Puppets’. I’m stuck on [those two]. I like ’72 Seasons’ and ‘…[And] Justice For All’, but it’s gotta be [sings ‘Master Of Puppets’ title track].
“It’s one of those… I’m interested in brain function,” Blaze explained. “I suffer with depression sometimes, bouts of depression, and I’m interested in brain function and what you can do to help yourself when you’re in a funk and sometimes when you’re in the real darkness. And one of the things I found from a doctor was if you have a song that makes you start tapping your foot, nodding your head, put that in your head, get it in your head, get it in your head. Start moving, start dancing, start moving, and this is something to help you get out of that funk. Start doing it. And I think that’s one of those songs for me. Yeah, ‘Master Of Puppets’ and possibly ‘Raining Blood’ as well [from] SLAYER. I mean, they’re old, old songs, though. I’m such a dinosaur when it gets to that. But I think it doesn’t matter how old you are, it’s what you get into first. You don’t how old the album is or whatever. But that’s it. Yeah, that’s a horrible question, because there’s so many.”
Last spring Blaze embarked on a European tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of his first post-MAIDEN release, “Silicon Messiah”. On this tour, Blaze played songs from “Silicon Messiah”, previously unperformed songs from his most recent album “Circle Of Stone” and classic IRON MAIDEN songs from his era with the band.
Bayley fronted IRON MAIDEN from 1994 until 1999. The two MAIDEN albums he appeared on, “The X Factor” and “Virtual XI”, sold considerably less than the band’s prior releases and were their lowest-charting titles in the group’s home country since 1981’s “Killers”.
Since leaving IRON MAIDEN in 1999, Bayley has released a number of albums, including several under the moniker BLAZE and more than a handful under his own name. He also appeared on 2012’s “Wolfsbane Saves The World”, the first album of new material by WOLFSBANE since the group’s self-titled 1994 effort, and a follow-up LP, 2022’s “Genius”.
Last year WOLFSBANE released “Live Faster”, a full-throttle reinvention of the band’s iconic debut, “Live Fast, Die Fast”, which was originally produced by Rick Rubin and released on Def American Recordings in 1989.
Bayley’s latest solo album, “Circle Of Stone”, came out in February 2024.
The now-62-year-old musician underwent a quadruple bypass surgery following a heart attack in March 2023.